Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Ocee Library, with the assistance of the Friends of the Northeast Spruill Oaks Library and in partnership with the City of Johns Creek, was chosen as a CDBG (Community Development Block Grant) recipient for a SARA (Scanning and Reading Appliance) machine with a flat screen monitor to better serve our visual and hearing impaired patrons who live in the community.

For more information about the SARA machine, click here. To find out about using the machine in the Ocee Library, give the library a call at 770-360-8897.

Many thanks to the City of Johns Creek and the Friends from Spruill Oaks for making this happen!

Friday, May 13, 2011

This book caught my eye on the New Atlantis website: an excerpt of the post is below. I highlighted my fav part - too many people think reading only counts if you're reading something "worthy".

Many have absorbed the puritanical message that reading is, first and foremost, good for you — the intellectual equivalent of eating your Brussels sprouts. For such people, indeed for all readers, Jacobs offers some simple, powerful, and much needed advice: read at whim, read what gives you delight, and do so without shame, whether it be Stephen King or the King James Version of the Bible. Jacobs offers an insightful, accessible, and playfully irreverent guide for aspiring readers. Each chapter focuses on one aspect of approaching literary fiction, poetry, or nonfiction, and the book explores everything from the invention of silent reading, reading responsively, rereading, and reading on electronic devices.

(The AFPL doesn't own a copy of this yet, but it's just coming out so cross fingers... )

Update: Adams Park Branch now owns a copy of this book so you can put a hold on it and have it sent to Ocee - yay Adams Park!

Supposedly, 42% of college graduates never read another book after they leave school (statistic from here), perhaps because they come to associate reading with the kind of 'serious' books they had to slog through for class. Don't give up on books and all they have to offer though, just because International Macroeconomics, 2nd Ed. was a tad dry. Feed your mind with all the joy words can offer :) and read anything that makes you happy!

Monday, May 9, 2011

Penguin Publishing commissioned hand-sewn artwork for the covers for its latest editions of Emma and The Secret Garden. Read more about them here (and see more pictures, including a Black Beauty cover as well).